UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST University of Cape Coast

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Creative Arts, Music and Drama in Early Childhood Education Dr. Awo Sarpong asarpong@ucc. edu. gh Department of Basic Education, Faculty of Education Foundations College of Education Studies, UCC

Children’s Artistic Development Lecture by Dr. Awo Sarpong

Lesson Objectives • Identification of the Stages of Artistic Development in Children • Identification of Characteristics of Stages of Scribbling

Introduction • Human Expression is artistic by nature. Thus development of expression is synonymous with artistic development. • Just like we develop other skills like walking and running in stages, we develop artistic skills in the same way. • Understanding the stages of artistic development (stages of the development of the human capacity to express itself) can help you become a more effective creative arts teacher.

The Visual Arts as Human Expression • Expression of thoughts, ideas and feelings in visual form. • Eg. Drawing, making pictures, building things, are all activities that express an inner reality or are a response of the child to stimuli within its environment.

SIX STAGES IN ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Scribbling Stage (2 -4 years) Pre-schematic Stage (4 -7 years) The Schematic Stage (7 -9 years) The Gang Age (9 -12 years) Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage (12 -14 years) Adolescent Art (14 -17 years)

STAGES OF ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT The Scribbling Stage • The Beginnings of Self-Expression • Age: 2 – 4 years

SCRIBBLING • The first expressive marks that children make upon the visual world. • An important step in a child’s development; beginning of expression which leads to drawing, painting and writing.

• The way these first marks are received and the attention paid to them cause children to develop attitudes about self-expression which will remain with them as they start schooling. • Unfortunately, scribbling has negative connotations of ‘waste’ of time.

DEVELOPMENT OF SCRIBBLING • Scribbles tend to follow a predictable order. • Scribbling begins as random marks on paper and evolves into drawings that have content recognizable to adults. • Images suggesting impulse to express ideas and thoughts in graphical form appear around 18 months and prevail up until about 4 years.

CATEGORIES OF SCRIBBLES Scribbles generally fall into three main categories: 1. Disordered Scribbles 2. Controlled scribbles 3. Named scribbles

DISORDERED SCRIBBLES • First Marks • Generally random • Children does not seem to recognize that he can make scribbles do what he wants. He often looks away while scribbling. • Scribbles vary in length and direction; repetitions as children swing arms back and forth.

• Line quality varies, with somewhat accidental results. • Crayon may be held upside down or sideways; it may be grasped in the fist or held in between the fists. • Fingers and wrist are not used to control drawing instrument, rather the arm and body

• Scribbles are made by larger sweeps of the body since scribblers have not yet developed fine muscle control. • Scribbles are not an attempt to represent the external visual environment; they are based on the expressiveness of the child through its psychological and physical development and not upon representational intent. • Scribbles are enjoyable for children as they swing their bodies; crayons are interesting for them. • Children all over the world scribble for the sheer enjoyment of the expressing themselves through body movement against a surface.

CONTROLLED SCRIBBLING

• Scribbling that is the result of child discovering connection between motions and marks on paper. • Occurs about six months after he has started scribbling. • Important step because child has discovered visual control over marks he is making. • Drawing quality does not really improve; what matters at this stage is the discovery of control over actions and marks.

• Enthusiasm increases as child discovers coordination between visual and motor ability. • Motions vary as child sees results of his actions and desires to see what each different motion will produce. • Lines are drawn with greater vigor. Direction of lines vary: horizontal, vertical, or circular. • At this stage drawing can be so engaging that children will have their noses almost glued to the paper.

• Children spend twice as long a time drawing • Occasionally will change or add different colour to drawing. • The page will often be filled, deliberately. • Experimentation with different ways of handling crayon, through by three, he is close to gripping like an adult. • He understands he can copy a line, but will choose not to and will instead do his own thing. • This is the time child begins to discover patterns between what he has drawn and something in his environment. • His intentions do not go beyond movement of his crayon; his enjoyment is basically kinesthetic in nature.

THE NAMING OF SCRIBBLING

• Children begin to give names to their drawings when they are a few months into their third year. • A child may say of his drawing, “I am running”, or “ This is maa”, though the drawings may not yet resemble anyone, or anything. • A significant change, as he is now connecting his motions to the world around him. • Drawings still haven't changed much, though. • He still enjoys the physical motion of scribbling and if given a new drawing he will spend more time on it than when he was younger.

• Conversations about the drawing become a means for the child to express himself not only in visual form but combine with linguistic skills. He is developing. • Children start to announce what they will be drawing, before the activity starts. • Drawings are still lines and ‘nothing’ to the adult, but for the child each wave made, each different line made means something new and different. • The great thing is that the child gives interpretation to the scribbles, an interpretation of his thoughts.

• Instead of discouraging, a teacher should invest encouragement into the child’s efforts, for if he successfully builds confidence in his ability at the scribbling stage, he will safely move up to the next stage: The Pre-schematic Stage (4 -7 years)

NEXT WEEK 1. 2. 3. Pre-schematic Stage (4 -7 years) The Schematic Stage (7 -9 years) Content of the Creative Arts (1)